Media editing applications allow users to create composite multimedia presentations (e.g., movies) based on several multimedia clips, such as audio and video clips. FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a graphical user interface (“GUI”) 100 of a video editing application used in creating a composite multimedia presentation based on several multimedia clips. As shown in this figure, the GUI 100 includes a composite display area 105 and a scroll tool 100. On several tracks that span a timeline, the composite display area can display many rectangles that represent many multimedia clips that are used to create a composite multimedia presentation.
Often, the composite display area cannot display all the tracks and all the clips because typically a composite presentation is formed by numerous clips on numerous tracks. For instance, in the example illustrated in FIG. 1, one video clip and sixteen audio clips are used to create the composite multimedia presentation. Consequently, as shown in this figure, the composite display area 105 is able to concurrently display only a first subset of clip rectangles 115, but not a second subset of clip rectangles 120. To view the second subset, the scroll tool 110 of the GUI 100 has to be used. However, in such instances, the display of the second subset in the composite display area 105 causes some or all of the first subset of the clip rectangles to scroll out of the composite display area.
Accordingly, using the scroll tool 110 is not always useful. This is especially the case, when in creating a composite video presentation, the user of the video editing application wants to concurrently view one or more clips that are separated by a significant temporal duration and/or by several tracks. Consequently, there is a need for a media editing application that allows a user to focus on a subset of clips in a composite display area. Ideally, such a media editing application will allow a user to work on different multimedia clips that are not adjacent to each other without having to scroll back and forth in the composite display area of the media editing application.